Boning and cutting operations in the processing of animal carcasses into various sections or cuts has traditionally been labour intensive with all such steps being carried out manually. There has been a trend to automate various operations, where possible, to reduce the number of operators required, increase the speed of operations steps, reduce the incidence of injury to operators, and generally increase efficiencies in the overall process of preparing meat cuts from a carcass.
There are a number of boning or cutting operations that require the manual pulling of part of a carcass in conjunction with cutting. For some operations the force required to be exerted by an operator is considerable. As a consequence, the meat processing industry suffers from a high level of worker injury via accidents and over-use strain. Further, when the labour market is short of workers sufficiently strong and skilled to carry out manual pulling operations, any improvement that eliminates or reduces the need forceful manual pulling operations widens the potential labour pool. In other words, the task required can be performed by people who are not as strong, or not as skilled.
A constant objective of the meat processing industry is to improve the financial yield from each carcass. This generally means increasing the volumetric yield per carcass (e.g. less meat left on scrap sections such as bones), increasing the yield per cut (cutting accuracy), and increasing the volume of higher value cuts (improved accuracy allows the ability to bias cuts towards high value).
Meat processing systems typically use a chain to pull at the carcass. Those systems that have a horizontal aspect in their pulling motion can endanger an operator because when the meat or bone has been freed it has a tendency to swing wildly on the chain. Some systems counter this by using a short linkage which has a reasonably predictable motion. When the meat or bone has been freed, the linkage typically collapses downwards onto a catch tray allowing the operator to stay out of the way of its motion.
Other systems typically use a hook to engage into the meat or bone. This is damaging to the meat, and can rapidly release if the meat or bone tears or breaks, adding to the hazard described above.
GB-A-2,277,245 describes an apparatus for boning a carcass. An overhead rail carries carcasses suspended on transport hooks. A drop arm is pivotally mounted to a bracket at one end and has a link chain attached thereto at the other end. A further hook is attached to the chain. During operation, the further hook is attached to a portion of a carcass and a generally downward force is applied to the drop arm by a pneumatic ram, thereby forcing a skeletal part or bone from the carcass. GB-A-2,277,245 does not overcome the aforementioned problems of arrangements using hooks to engage portions of a carcass. Also, due to the drop arm being pivotally mounted, GB-A-2,277,245 does not describe an arrangement that removes horizontal aspects from the pulling motion and therefore provides no solution to the hazards associated therewith.
GB-A-2,412,565 describes an apparatus not dissimilar to that of GB-A-2,277,255. A carcass is suspended from a support rail. A hook is attached to a fixed post via a link chain. The hook engages a bone portion of the carcass and, as the carcass is moved along the support rail, the bone portion is forcibly removed from the carcass. GB-A-2,412,565 does not provide a solution to the problems associated with the use of hooks, nor those associated with horizontal aspects in the pulling motion.
GB-A-2,294,382 describes another chain and hook arrangement in which the chain and hook is fastened to a support structure that moves an operator up and down under the control of a foot operated control. This arrangement is fixed, has the disadvantages associated with chain linkages and is difficult for an operator to control.
It is an object of the invention to overcome at least some of the problems or disadvantages associated with known apparatus for use in animal carcass boning or cutting, or to at least provide a useful choice.